Australians are renowned for their adoption of technology. The country’s demand for data is growing rapidly as reliable and fast connectivity becomes part of almost every aspect of our lives and a key building block of economic growth.

This is why Telstra is investing billions of dollars in our network capabilities, ensuring we will be ready for twice as many streaming videos, four times the number of connected devices and five times the internet traffic.

In August, Tasmania became the first state to benefit from the transformation of Telstra’s national transmission network using next generation optical transport networking to increase capacity and flexibility, improve resilience and move towards setting up the country for new technologies, including 5G and the Internet of Things.

“With the explosion in smart devices, video streaming and cloud computing we are forecasting that Telstra will have five times the traffic on our network over the next five years and more than four times the devices than we have today.

This transmission upgrade project is about making sure we have the capacity in place to meet these demands,” said Mr Patterson, Area General Manager, Telstra Tasmania.

“Everything from mobiles to business products to our nbn services relies on our transmission network, which forms the backbone of our national network.

The upgrade has increased Telstra’s network capacity across the Bass Strait from 400 Gigabit to 1 Terabit per second on each of Telstra’s two subsea cables – the equivalent of 200,000 HD videos being streamed simultaneously on each of Telstra’s subsea cables running across the Bass Strait.

A total of 20 exchanges in Tasmania have been upgraded as part of this project, including sites in Burnie, Devonport, Launceston and Hobart.

As more households connect to the nbn network and streaming entertainment soars in popularity, Australia’s demand for data is reaching new levels.

To provide our customers with peace of mind as their data habits continue to grow, Telstra has launched our first ever home broadband bundles with unlimited data allowances for new and existing customers on $99 and above plans.

Streaming entertainment content has become a way of life for Australians with around two thirds of us now streaming our favourite shows and in the past year alone, traffic carried over our fixed network has increased by 40%.

New customers taking up the $99 Home Internet Entertainment Bundle will receive unlimited data, the new Telstra TV, one Foxtel Now Starter pack for three months (minimum cost $2475 on a 24-month plan) and a Telstra Gateway Frontier modem.

With its ability to blend the traditions of live TV with the convenience of streaming and mobile entertainment, the Telstra TV, alongside our refreshed home broadband unlimited bundles, provides our customers with unrivalled entertainment offerings.